Site: Northwestern University

The Education and Outreach Core of the SCCPIR Center for Reproductive Health After Disease provides Reproductive and Endocrine Awareness to Diverse Communities. It creates a process to communicates the research activities and emerging data of the Center to two important audiences:

The clinicians who treat patients diagnosed with diseases or undergoing treatments that threaten their future reproductive health, and

The public, who should have a general understanding of their own reproductive and endocrine health and the risk of disease-related or iatrogenic reproductive dysfunction.

For Clinicians and Researchers

The Education and Outreach Core conveys information to the clinical community regarding the reproductive and endocrine damage caused by specific diseases and treatments. To disseminate clinical information and emerging Center research findings to providers across the United States, the Core hosts quarterly Virtual Grand Rounds, through which attendees can view and listen to experts in the fields of disease, reproduction, endocrinology, and fertility preservation and interact with presenters in real time. Many fertility providers and health care clinicians have detailed questions regarding how to implement a comprehensive fertility preservation program, thus the Core hosts Clinic 101, an annual small-group training course, to give providers the resources and tools to develop their own fertility preservation and endocrine health program or to strengthen their existing program.

For the Public

A solid understanding of reproductive biology is important to ensure that all people can make fully informed decisions about their future reproductive health. Thus, public education is a critical function of the Core to disseminate information to male and female patients, their partners, and their parents. In addition, outreach to children and teenagers is necessary to provide them with a basic understanding of reproductive biology, and a basis for conceptualizing advanced reproductive and endocrine concepts as the future researchers, clinicians, and patients of tomorrow. To ensure these concepts are taught to young people, the core is developing animated video training modules targeted to young boys and girls. By providing reproductive education and outreach to this diverse set of stakeholders—providers, patients, partners, parents, and the public—we can be assured that, together with their physicians, patients and the public will have the ability to make complex decisions about their reproductive and endocrine health that will affect the rest of their lives.